Darrell Moody: Football rules needs to be consistent

I am forever shaking my head at some of the rule differences between high school and pro football. I am of the opinion that other than safety issues, the rules should be the same throughout prep, college and pro.

The first is the immediate dead ball when a defensive lineman jumps offsides. Unless there is contact he should have the opportunity to get back to his side of the ball before the snap. Instead, the whistle blows and there is a 5-yard penalty.

The second is the pass interference penalty. In pro ball, it’s a spot foul, meaning that the offense gets the ball wherever the pass interference took place and it’s an automatic first down. It is too easy to tell your defensive back that if the offense has the ball at it’s own 20 to tackle the receiver if you are going to get deep. Why? Because in high school, it’s 15 yards from the previous line of scrimmage. Granted you don’t want to give up 15 free yards anytime, but it’s better than giving up a touchdown.

The third rule I have an issue with is the intentional grounding rule, and that is one that hurt Carson on Thursday against Reno in a 36-0 loss, and played a big role in a regional playoff loss to Reed a few years ago in a game played at Bishop Manogue.

Twice Jonny Laplante, under heavy pressure scrambled to the right, outside the hash marks and threw the ball away to avoid the sack. Each time after a brief delay, a flag was thrown.

The reason? In high school you have to have a receiver in the vicinity and Carson didn’t. Proper call, but the rule needs to be looked at. Laplante admitted after the game that he didn’t know the rule. I remember the same thing happened to Joe Nelson in a regional final loss to Reed.

What makes the rule especially penalizing is that the march-off is from where the quarterback threw the ball and not the previous spot. And, you also lose the down. A double whammy to be sure.

There are other rules I’m not wild about, but those are the three that stick out the most.

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I always pride myself on my promptness. I hate to be late for anything.

Wednesday, traffic was a bit slower than normal on I-580 heading to Reno, and I knew there was a chance of being late to the letter-of-intent press conference at Nevada.

As I started to turn into the ramp area at Lawlor, every single parking spot was spoken for. Dang.

I wheeled the car over to the garage, and followed the ramp to the sixth floor. As I was getting ready to fork out $5 for an all-day parking pass, a student who was leaving stopped me, and gave me his pass since he was leaving for the day.

Kindness like that doesn’t come around everyday, especially from young people.

Inside the stadium parking structure there’s athletic department parking for 60 minutes. If you’re going to watch practice for football or basketball, sometimes that isn’t long enough.

Why can’t we just be allowed to leave business cards on our dashboard and park wherever there’s an opening? Or maybe a discounted parking pass to purchase?